


New Direction

by BartyJnr



Series: Michael [1]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Wings, homeless, veteran
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26647480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BartyJnr/pseuds/BartyJnr
Summary: “But Detective!”“Lucifer. No. I need you to-““Really though; they can’t-““Lucifer,please!” Chloe sighs, the hand not holding the phone to her ear running across her face, “I just need you to dress down a little; it won’t kill you.”
Series: Michael [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954735
Comments: 9
Kudos: 131





	New Direction

“But Detective!”

“Lucifer. No. I need you to-“

“Really though; they can’t-“ 

“Lucifer, _please!_ ” Chloe sighs, the hand not holding the phone to her ear running across her face, “I just need you to dress down a little; it won’t kill you.” 

“You can’t promise that, Detective.” Lucifer whined. If Chloe knows him as well as she thinks she does, she can imagine him currently fiddling with, what she imagines are, overly expensive cuff links. 

“I’ll make a deal with you!” Chloe calls, cutting off the long winded whine of the Devil. She frowns lightly at the sudden silence, checking her phone screen for a moment, “Lucifer?” 

“And what would this _deal_ get me?” She can practically hear the smirk in his tone. Her boyfriend has practically the same mindset as a teenager with a picture of boobs, she swears. 

“Wear that leather jacket you wore back when we met, a plain shirt, worth under a hundred if you can manage it, and some jeans or something. Come on, Lucifer, you know how to dress down. You copied Dan for a few days.” Mistake. That’ll cost her, she’s sure. “We can figure out repayment later. I need you here to help me question people.” 

“An open deal with you…. Alright **fine** , but it’s still under duress!” 

“New Directions for Veterans, providing comprehensive housing and supportive services to homeless and at-risk veterans…” Ella rambles off, as she and Chloe move towards the reception, “Ive helped run the food hall down here before, and donations, of course…” 

“What’s the guys name we’re here to speak to?” 

“Oh! Yeah, duh!” Ella laughs and fake slaps her forehead, “Silly me, rambling on. The note in our guys pocket said ‘Meet Mikey D back at NDV…’ then something was smudged out, and today’s date.” 

Chloe hums lightly, moving to the reception and smiling at the volunteer, “Hi, I’m Detective Decker with the LAPD, we’re just wondering if we could speak with someone who may house or be getting some help here? Might go by Mikey D?” 

The volunteer looks over her badge and swallows, looking around nervously before mumbling about going to get a manager and escaping from behind the deck back into what looks like a small office. Not to long after, a larger man appears, scowling. 

“What’ve they done? We don’t want any trouble makers in here.” The gruff man scratches at his chin. 

“Oh, we don’t think the gent has done anything. Someone was murdered a distance away, but had a note on him to meet someone called Mikey D, at what we’re assuming is here.” Chloe grabs up a photo of the note on her phone, watching the man nod in return.

“Yeah, some people use that abbreviation, but I don’t recognise the name… might be best off asking down at the food hall.” And with that, the man disappears back out into the office, the nervous volunteer retaking their place behind the desk. 

“Thank you for your help, food hall this way?” The detective points, gains a nod and sighs, moving in the given direction, “come on, Ella. Let’s see if we can sway some information, until Lucifer arrives…” 

The food hall looked remarkably similar to a school lunch room, though a lot less crowded. Sparse groups of mostly men sat around eating and chatting, some sat alone. Chloe stands off to one side, eyes fleeting across the people, hoping to spot someone searching, just as she was, but without luck. Checking her phone to see a message from Lucifer stating that he would be with her in a few moments, she replies with the location and a direction through the hall to meet with her. Sliding her phone back into a pocket, she manoeuvres herself into eye line of one loner, giving the man a smile. 

“W-w-w-what’cha w-w-wanting?” The man frowns up to her, obviously clocking her badge as his eyes drift to her own, “Ain’t d-done n-n-n-nothing.”

“We’re looking for someone going by Mikey D?” 

“W-w-why for?”

“Just questioning, he may know our victim.” 

“Oh. He was back there a few seconds ago—“ He nods back behind her, watching as she turns, frowning at the now empty table and trying to remember if she had spotted anyone there. “He’s probably wandered back off to their room, he was bunking with Dennis, ‘til they c-c-c-c-could sort him his own place.”

“Happen to know the room number?”

She waits for Lucifer to arrive, watching Ella wandering between people, gaining small bits of intel on their apparent ‘Dennis’ and ‘Mikey D’. So far, they had found out that usually Dennis had been a loner, refusing to talk to anyone, but suddenly one day appeared with Mikey hung from his arm, and since had been rather inseparable, apart from an outsourced muscle therapy that Dennis needed for his amputation. It seemed like no one really knew Mikey, and upon hearing of the death of their fellow Veteran they got quiet rather fast. 

“Alright Detective, here I am, slumming it—“

“ _Lucifer!”_ Chloe hisses, grabbing his arm and dragging him off towards the corridors of rooms, “That is _not_ something to say!” 

Lucifer drags her to a stop, looking down at her with the biggest puppy eyes he can muster up, before stooping and giving a light kiss to her cheek, “I’m sorry.”

She shouldn’t be so happy that he recognises the need to feel sorry, but since it is a newly learned trait, she can’t help the little smile on her face from it. 

“Alright, our guy has just wandered off towards his room. I’m thinking we go pay a visit, see if he has any ideas who would want his friend dead.”

They walk down the corridor together, stepping aside to let other people pass whilst checking door numbers. Finally tracking down the correct room, Chloe gives a solid knock, watching Lucifer lean closer to the door, frowning lightly. 

“Hear anything?”

“I think he said come in.” Lucifer frowns lightly, looking between Chloe and the door for a moment, “No, seriously this time, I honestly think he said come in.”

Chloe gives a soft chuckle before swinging the door in softly, her had moving towards her holster, just to be safe. They both move into what looks like a cramped living space, with an obvious extra sleeping space jammed into the only walk way space. Jumping at a sudden clatter off to the furthest right of the room, Chloe just about stops herself from drawing her weapon whilst listening to the harsh cursing. A messy head of hair appears from under a table, shirtless shoulders appearing shortly after, a hand rubbing at his forehead lightly. 

“It’s about time you showed back up, you’re hours late!” He grumbles, American accent flaring randomly as he straightens up, “You better have brought me back something ni— ah shit.” 

It takes Chloe a few seconds to piece together why the man had frozen. 

“ _ **Michael?!**_ ” Lucifer growls, taking a menacing step towards the rougher looking twin, who rather obviously flashes a glance towards the door in an escape attempt, “What in the Hell do you think you’re doing here?!”

The last time she’s aware of the brothers having seen one another, according to Lucifer in any case, was when their father had also appeared, Amenadiel had frozen everything, and God had told them to stop fighting. Since then, as far as Chloe knew, Lucifer hasn’t seen any of his siblings, even hardly seeing Amenadiel. That was around four months ago now, and by the looks of Michael, he had been on Earth the entire time, if the beard was anything to go by. His hair is in a mess, the length causing its natural curl to appear (something she knows Lucifer’s does, every time he gets out of a shower), the beard long enough to grab if it was needed. 

“Look, I’m not here doing anything!” Michael replies, backing away from Lucifer’s approach until he ends up backed against a counter, hands clearly reaching for anything to fend off with. 

That also stumps Chloe a little. Why would an Angel need a weapon? Why would he be, as Lucifer would say, slumming it with Veterans of all people?

A clang of metal hitting a solid surface brings Chloe’s mind back to present, now looking at Michael holding what used to be a flat frying pan, which now had the lovely imprint of a very angry Devil’s face. Said Devil retaliates by grabbing his twin by the neck and lifting him boldly off the ground. She expects laughter, like what had happened in their other fights, but is again knocked sideways when Michael’s face just starts changing to a dark reddish purple, the Angel scrambling for a purchase, attempting to push at Lucifer’s hands feebly. 

“Lucifer, I think maybe you should put him down…” She moves to put herself between the twins, watching in just as much shock as Michael thumps to the floor, unconscious. 

“What in the hell is that?” Lucifer grunts, giving his twins form a light kick in the shoulder. 

“Lucifer! He passed out! Should he have passed out?”

“Yes— I mean no, no he shouldn’t have, but what is _that_?” He again gives his brother’s shoulder a harsh toe shove, but this time Chloe see’s what he means. 

“Get him up onto the bed, come on.” 

With many a grumble, Lucifer finally does as she asks, placing his brother down onto his stomach into the bed, leaving them both staring at his back, or rather, at the two tattoo’d wings that span the entirety of his back. 

“How long do you think he’ll be out for?” Chloe mumbles, moving to close the door. They had stood stumped for a few moments before she had jumped into action, at least making sure no random passerby’s would check out inside the room.

“Detective, I have no idea why he’s _out_ ” Lucifer replies, making air quotes whilst mimicking her accent with a small smirk.

“Not the time, nor the place.” 

Having silenced Lucifer for the time being, she moves to searching the property. The room is a basic one person sit, single bed (currently occupied), a small wardrobe, bedside draws, and a kitchenette built in with a small eating table. She guesses the bathroom must be a shared room, along with a wash room somewhere down the corridor. The only out of place item in the room seemed to be the roll out bed mat with sleeping bag and extra blankets laid out in the small space between the bed and the wardrobe. Nothing screams out ‘kill me’, so Chloe moves back to the bed, looking at the laid out twin (currently being prodded in the cheek by his brother). 

“Lucifer, leave your brother alo-“ Chloe starts to berate, but cuts herself off with a gasp when Michael suddenly launches for the door. 

Lucifer acts faster than she can, grabbing the fleeing Angel’s ankle, leaving him to solidly thud to the floor. A growl escapes as legs flail, trying his best to escape his brother’s grasp. Seeing no way around this, Chloe pulls out her cuffs and jumps onto the downed Angel, securing him quickly. 

“Michael…” She shoots Lucifer a look of confusion.

“Demiurge.” A grunt from under her informs, the flailing stopping and letting himself slump lightly. 

“Thank you. Michael Demiurge, we are taking you in for questioning on the murder of Dennis Barnes. This will be so much easier if you just come with us quietly.” Chloe slowly moves back, keeping one hand on her cuffs, knowing full well the Angel could just burst free if he wanted to.

Michael gives a deep sigh, then slowly shuffles to stand up, revealing a bloodied face, a cut to his brow and a suspect popped nose. He nods, mumbling lightly “Yeah, alright, I’ll come quiet. Didn’t do nothing though.”

Lucifer responds with an untrusting snort, rolling his eyes before grabbing the other arm of his twin, swinging the door open and moving to march them out, growling into Michael’s ear, “No funny business, _Mikey D._ ”

Chloe collects Ella on their way out, who takes to staring at Michael in shock. It’s around half way back to the station that Chloe realises that this is probably the first time Ella has actually seen Michael and Lucifer within the same space. She’s rather amazed that the only interaction she makes is to wipe some of the blood from Michael’s face. Once they roll up to the precinct, Ella makes off for her lab, claiming to return shortly with medical supplies, while Lucifer and Chloe march Michael into a interrogation room, sitting him down at the table. 

“Choice is yours, I can uncuff you, or I can recuff you to the table. What will it be?” Chloe questions, dangling the key. 

“I’ll behave. Take them off, please.” Michael’s voice shows discomfort, once again surprising Chloe, as well as his next line of questioning, “Don’t suppose there’s anything in the way of clothing for me to borrow? A blanket even? Rooms damn cold.” He even shivers a little, glaring towards the table.

“I— I’ll see what I can do.” She replies, removing the cuffs and moving for the door, taking a second to caution Lucifer to behave with a look she hopes to heaven and hell he understands. 

It takes around half a second of the door closing before Lucifer slams the table and glares at his brother, “Whatever play this is, it isn’t funny.”

Laughter bubbles from Michael, the bleeding Angel shaking his head in dismay, “Really? You’re not getting this yet? You’ve choked me out, you’ve made me bleed with the floor, and I have a giant tattoo on my back, but you’re really not getting what’s happened? Come now, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be this dense.”

“Michael, I’m done playing! I’m not going to sit around and let you ruin my home any longer! I’ll drag your stupid arse all the way back to the pearly damned gates myself, if I have to!”

“Well you would have to! I’ve not got wings, dipshit!” Michael yells in return, throwing his hands up either side of himself, “I’m stuck here for some stupid _lesson_ , so you’d only be doing me a favour by returning me home!”

That seems to stump Lucifer’s triad a little, the Devil slowly sinking back into his seat before grinning slightly manically, “You’re human?” 

“Oh yes yes, laugh it up.” Michael rolls his head back to stare at the ceiling, unwilling to look his smirking brother in the face, “Human _ish_ , anyways.”

“Ish?” Lucifer questions, just in time for Chloe to come back in with a pair of joggers and a t shirt. 

Michael quite happily takes the offered pile, quickly dressing himself and sitting back down, rubbing his arms lightly for warmth. 

“We need to ask you about Dennis, Michael. How you know him, why you’re living with him, and if you know anyone that would have wanted to hurt or kill him.”

“Well, when Dad decided I should learn some lesson, he just dumped me off somewhere with no real instructions…” he starts off, immediately holding a wait finger up as Lucifer tries to cut in, “Yes, I know, he never does. Point being, whatever he did to me just sort of left me… lost. Suddenly my head is empty, no prays, no chatter, no nothing. I’ve no… direction, I guess? So when I found myself on a street of LA, I just… I started walking and didn’t stop until my legs gave way. I might have sat for a few hours, all I know is when I came back to myself, I was soaked through, and Dennis was crouched in front of me, shaking at my knee. He questioned if I was alright, whether I needed him to get someone, or anything like that and I… I think I just said ‘I don’t know’. He disappeared and came back with a bag that had a sandwich and a coffee each for us. We ate those and sat drinking the coffee while he questioned me, and at some point he asked if I was a war veteran… I replied ‘I guess I am’. He asked if I was homeless and needed a roof, I agree’d and he took me back to New Directions. That’s… that’s pretty much everything. I mostly stayed in, he would go out for his appointments, but I have nothing to do, so I just stayed in, watched TV, just… relaxed, I guess?” 

Chloe hums and nods away whilst writing down Michael’s statement, “So you can’t think of anyone who would want to harm him?” 

“No, I didn’t really know him. He was… he was a good soul with an unfortunate hand given to him.” Lucifer snorts and rolls his eyes, causing Michael to growl lightly. “Look, I get that you don’t trust me, but he was a good soul. He was terrified whenever he was around me and he still continued to basically mother me.”

“Sorry, what do you mean by that?” Chloe stops writing, frowning.

“Mothering? He found me new clothes, fed me, made sure I had a bed—“

“No, no, sorry, not that. You said he was terrified around you. Why?” 

“Oh. Lucifer gets his desire, I have fear. It’s… horrible.” He shrugs and leans away from the table, eyes lowered, “When people are near me, they start to get scared. Their deepest fears start to bubble to the surface, my very presence makes people nervous and suspicious.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s just your mojo, brother dear.” Lucifer snarks, smirking at the deep frown on Michael’s face, the clenched jaw and balled fists. 

“You have no idea what it’s like to truly be feared. You only know terror when you show them your monstrous side, so just try to imagine your life style going as well as it does with that continuously on show, huh?” 

“It can’t be that bad, Michael.” 

“Can’t it?” Michael snorts and looks back to Chloe determined, “Look, am I free to go or what? I’d prefer not to spend any more time around _him_.”

With seemingly perfect timing, Ella walks through the door just as Lucifer shoves his chair to the floor with the speed of him standing. Everyone looks over at her frozen form before she smiles and waves a first aid box and wanders over to the side Michael sits at. 

“Are you all done with him, Detective Decker?” Ella questions with a professional tone Chloe isn’t used to hearing from her.

“Errr, yes, yes. Come on Lucifer. We’ll go file this and see if we can see anything else for Mr Demiurge to be questioned on, if not you’ll be free to go soon.” She shuffles her papers back into a file, standing and raising an eyebrow to Lucifer, “Come on, Lucifer, lets go.”

“But-“

“Now.”

There is a clear low-key disagreement happening as Chloe practically frog marches the taller Devil from the room, and Michael’s sure it will be something to do with not leaving the forensic analyst alone with him. To be honest, Michael would have preferred them to remove the smaller lady and leave him alone, rather than have to deal with whatever fear will pop up in the human. 

“Ok, so, I’m going to use of my some gauze on your eyebrow. Usually we wouldn’t, and you’d be sent off to the hospital for treatment, but this isn’t really major and only needs washed and patched.” Ella rambles, positioning herself on the table with her legs tucked between Michael’s own, seemingly completely blasé to the current state of shock Michael is in, “Your nose looks like its settled itself down, the blood sort of says it’s not likely broken, the lack of swelling and shape are saying the same, and the bleed looks like its stopped, so that should be all good…” 

She continues to ramble about his other injuries, whilst carefully pressing and wiping away the drying blood around his face. The wipe moves over his brow, causing him to jolt and hiss at the sting, surprising Ella. 

“Sorry, I should have warned you!”

“You really don’t have to do this..” 

They speak at the same time, both stopping and staring at one another for a few seconds before Michael continues, “I know people feel uncomfortable around me, Ms Lopez. Feel free to just tell me which to apply and I can sort it myself.”

Ella frowns and shakes her head, “Don’t be silly! Why would I be uncomfortable around you? Because of Lucifer?”

“What? No, because—“ He stops, frowning himself before shrugging lightly, unable to explain himself.

“Well, I’m not. In fact, I was going to offer my place if you need somewhere to stay, since Dennis’ place is going to be searched and closed off now, and New Direction’s told me they didn’t have any other rooms to offer out…” She rambles again, waving her hand back towards his face, fingers motioning for him to get closer again so she can reach to rub his brow more, “Obviously you can say no, I’m sure the station would sort out a hotel or you could stay with your brother…”

“I couldn’t think of anything worse.” Michael chuckles, wincing as she wipes his face more. It is amazing him how much such a little cut can sting. “Staying with my brother, I mean. Me and Lucifer notoriously butt heads. But I wouldn’t want to be a burden on you.”

“You wouldn’t! My sofa folds out, and I have a spare room… We could move it into there, you’d just have to ignore the boxes, or you could stay in the sitting room, then you’d have the TV and xbox.”

Michael reaches for her hands, slowly stilling them and looking straight at Ella with confusion, “Why would you offer your home to me? You don’t know me, I’ve been pulled in here to be questioned about the last guy I lived with’s murder, and you’re in here offering up your home?”

“Honestly? I think you’re a good guy, in a rough place right now.” Ella smiles softly, shrugging once more, “Everyone needs a little help now and then. Plus, I don’t think Chloe and Lucifer would have left me alone with you if they thought you were dangerous, or left your cuffs off, not that I think you needed them anyways, everyone fights with their siblings.” 

“Well.. if you’re sure, Ms Lopez.”

“Call me Ella, Mikey!”

“Oh please, call me Michael.” He grumbles lightly, laughing, “Dennis called me Mikey once he found out how much I hated my siblings shortening my name.” 

“Oh! Michael, then.” She grins, “I think this will be fun, Michael.”


End file.
